NEW ORLEANS — The hope is that Hall of Fame destined running back Adrian Peterson will give the pass happy New Orleans Saints and future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees that missing ingredient — on balance — for a return to the Super Bowl.

Or, it could mean a couple of legends at the combined age of 70 are just another year closer to the end.

Saints fans are expected to get a taste of the two players hoping to age like fine wine when New Orleans (1-1) plays its first home preseason game of 2017 against the Houston Texans (0-2) at 7 p.m. Saturday here in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Both are expected to play for the first time this preseason along with running back Mark Ingram and center Max Unger, who was cleared this week for practice and may play after foot surgery in May.

Peterson is anxious to play after missing all but three games of the 2016 season as a Minnesota Viking with a torn meniscus in his right knee that required surgery. He gained 72 yards on 37 carries in that 10th season with Minnesota, which picked him seventh in the first round in 2007 out of Oklahoma and Palestine, Texas.

“He has a bounce in his step. We will try to get him some work here Saturday. Both he and Mark are both itching to get in," said Payton, who is entering his 11th season with New Orleans.

“My mindset has been to play,” Peterson told reporters Thursday after practice. “Whether I play or not I don’t know yet, by my mindset is to play. The season is approaching quickly, and there is a sense of urgency to get out there.”

Running back Terrell Davis, who entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Aug. 5, provided that missing edge for pass high Denver and aging quarterback John Elway for back-to-back Super Bowl titles in the 1997 and ’98 seasons. Elway was age 37 and 38, while Davis at 26 and 27. Davis, though, was done at the age of 29 in 2001.

If the Peterson-Brees connection works to perfection — which would mean some help from a gradually improving Saints defense under coordinator Dennis Allen — Peterson, 32, and Brees, 38, will be in Super Bowl LII on Feb. 4, 2018, in U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis of all places. For Minnesota, Peterson gained 11,747 yards from 2007-16 to become the No. 16 rusher in NFL history. The Saints and Vikings, by the way, will open the Monday Night Football regular season on Sept. 11 at U.S. Bank Stadium.

“You’re talking about one of the great running backs that’s ever played the game,” Brees said shortly after the Saints signed Peterson as a free agent last spring to a two-year, $7 million contract. “I think he’s got a lot left in him.”

Apparently, so does Brees, who annually is one of the highest rated passers in the NFL and has thrown for 5,000 yards or more an NFL record five times with four of those coming since he led the Saints to the Super Bowl XLIV title in the 2009 season. But therein lies part of the problem. He needed to throw for just 4,388 yards when the Saints won it all. Of those five, 5,000-yard seasons, two came during 7-9 seasons last year and in 2012 and a third in an 8-8 campaign in 2008.

Peterson, meanwhile, was on but one Vikings team that advanced in the NFL Playoffs, and that one — with aging quarterback Brett Favre — lost to Brees and the Saints, 31-28, in overtime in the NFC Championship Game in the Superdome on Jan. 24, 2010. Other than the 1-1 mark in 2009-10, Peterson is 0-for-3 in playoff appearances in Wild Card rounds, including his last healthy season in 2015 when he gained 1,485 yards on 327 carries. The Vikings won the NFC North at 11-5, but lost, 10-9, to Seattle in the Wild Card Playoff.

In 2012, Peterson became just the seventh rusher in NFL history to reach 2,000 yards by turning in the No. 2 rushing season of all time with 2,097 yards and was named league MVP. But the Vikings, 10-6 runners-up in the NFC North lost to Green Bay, 24-10, in the Wild Card Playoff. His only other postseason appearance was in 2008 when Minnesota won the North at 10-6, but fell, 26-14, to Philadelphia in the Wild Card Playoff.

“I think we’re getting a guy who’s hungry, with a chip on his shoulder,” Brees said.

And he will have less responsibility on those shoulders as he joins a backfield that featured Ingram — just age 27 — gaining a career-high 1,043 yards in 2016 on 205 carries along with 46 catches for 319 yards.

“They’re potentially one of the best tandems in the league,” Brees said.

“We think he has more years in his career,” Payton said when Peterson was signed. “It’s rare and unique to have the opportunity to add a Hall of Fame player to your roster. His career has been top-notch and speaks for itself. We think he will be an excellent fit in our locker room and in our offense.”

If he is not in the training room the majority of the time.

In addition to his 32 years, Peterson is coming off that torn meniscus surgery from last season in addition to a ligament sprain and a groin pull. He will be attempting to come back from a major injury for the first time in his NFL career. His only previous major injury before the knee was a broken collarbone while a junior at Oklahoma in 2006 when he missed half the season.

He has also played only one complete season over the last three as he saw action in just one game in 2014. He was suspended by the NFL that year following the season opener after his indictment on child injury charges that involved Peterson disciplining his son with a switch. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor reckless assault. The first game of his suspension was at New Orleans on Sept. 21, and the Saints won, 20-9.

“I am feeling good and am at 100 percent,” Peterson told reporters before training camp opened. “I am back to doing everything that I did before the injury, but better. I’m honored to be a part of the New Orleans Saints.”

But will he be the next Earl Campbell, who was traded to New Orleans in 1984 as a shell of what he was after his glory years in Houston? He managed just 643 yards in his first full season in 1985 at age 30. Or will he be the next Ricky Williams, a former Saint who is the last 32-year-old since 1990 to gain 1,000 yards or more in a season with 1,121 in 2009 at Miami?

Asked if he has good years remaining, Peterson said emphatically, “Yes, because it’s me. It’s kind of crazy to hear people even comment on how many years I have left and compare me to other running backs when I’m my own individual. There’s a different mindset, work ethic, body type.”

Peterson at 6-foot-1, 220, is on the leaner side and built similar to the ageless Marcus Allen, who at 6-2 and 210 pounds was the only 36-year-old since 1990 to come close to 1,000 yards in a season as he gained 820 in 1996 with Kansas City.

“This is the one thing that I really dislike about the NFL and how a lot of people try to put guys in a box,” Peterson said. “Especially running backs after that 30-year-old mark. One, they make it seem like guys are going downhill, and that’s not necessarily the case. In my mind, I feel like I have a lot of years left. I will have an opportunity to retire when I feel like I’m done playing ball, and that’s just the mentality that I have.”

Payton plans to extend those years at least through Peterson’s 33rd and 34th birthdays with a rotation — depending on the game and situation — with Ingram as well as third round pick Alvin Kamara, who scored on a 50-yard run in the Saints’ 13-7 win at the Los Angeles Chargers last Sunday.

Payton also hopes to improve on his run-pass ratio — 30th in the NFL last year at 37.4 percent run, 62.5 percent pass — to help the Saints finish off games better — a tragic flaw during four 7-9 finishes the last five years. The Saints were No. 16 in rushing last year with 108 yards a game.

“If you’re running it well, it’s the one element that allows you to control a game,” said Payton, who has added veteran guard Larry Warford and first round pick tackle Ryan Ramczyk to a solid offensive line. “It controls time of possession, which helps your defense.”

The goal is a fresh Peterson at win time. This will be an adjustment for a career workhorse who has averaged 295 carries a year through eight seasons in which he played 12 games or more and has carried more than 310 times in a season four times. The last Saints back to carry 300 times or more in a season was Deuce McAllister in 2003.

“It’s a tough, long, 16-week season,” Payton said. “He’s someone that will certainly be able to complement Mark.”

And then some, depending how healthy and strong he plays. At his best, Peterson is — or was — one of the NFL’s most feared and punishing runners. For the first time since McAllister, the Saints may have a back who could be feared by foes.

“I’ve been the guy for 10 years,” Peterson said during mini camp. “I came into this situation with open arms. Everything was laid out to me, and I made the decision to be a part of it. I’m looking forward to seeing how things work out. I know Coach Payton is a genius when it comes to offense and offensive schemes.”

And Brees is one of the main reasons Peterson, who visited Seattle and New England, chose New Orleans.

“Having a future Hall of Fame quarterback, by itself, right there is a game changer,” he said at the time of his signing. “That was definitely something I thought about. You can bring a mediocre receiver in, and he can get him 500 or 600 yards. I feel like adding what I’m able to do in the mix, it’ll be very challenging for an opposing defense. Envisioning myself behind Drew Brees is just like, ‘Wow. What would the opposing team do?’”

The veteran connection worked for a 30-yard touchdown pass on a wheel route at practice Thursday.

“Yeah, that was one of the things I was really excited about coming into join this offense, knowing the type of quarterback Drew is,” Peterson said Thursday. “If you’re open, he’s going to throw it to you. So it’s no more just running the routes to get the man that’s running down the field to turn his back. It’s running routes to win. Drew threw a great ball, and I was able to come down with it."

Brees was not expecting the receiver ability.

“That’s not what he is known for obviously,” Brees said Thursday. “But he is certainly capable of that, and that just makes him even more of a threat. It just makes him more versatile. He can catch screen passes. We can motion him out of the backfield, and he can run routes.”

Call it lagniappe.

“I don’t think that would be the first thing that we think of when we are looking at his skill set,” Payton said. “And yet you have to have some flexibility and not be one dimensional, and he has shown that. His receiving has been good, and it has been steady.”

Maybe it will keep him younger.

“Yeah, it felt good,” Peterson said. “Coaches watch that, they’re going to say, ‘OK, we see what he’s able to do when he’s out there.’ That opens up more opportunities.”

If Brees can keep doing it, so can Peterson. Asked if a 2015-type season is possible, Peterson answered, “Without a doubt, of course. That’s just the way that I’m built, programmed. I’ve always been that way.”

Peterson’s 1,485 yards in 2015 led the NFL in rushing, but it also made him only the third player in NFL history to do that after his 30th birthday, which was on March 21, 2015. He remembers similar questions before that year.

“It was the same thing,” he said. “I was hearing, ‘Oh, he’s over the hill.’ This, that and the other. I didn’t change. I just continued to do what I do. I was blessed to have a good season that year. Nothing has changed, especially that mindset. I feel like I can play at that level for a long time. Five or six more years.”

Brees has been saying five or six more years for about five or six years.

“I’ve got so much respect for Brees,” Peterson said. “We have the same mindset — win a championship and be the best player on the field. My eyes are on winning a championship, being the best player, being the best running back. I’m going to play whatever role they ask, and I’m going to do it to the max. I have several years left to play."

Brees has noticed and perhaps met his age group match.

“He is really intense,” he said. “He runs angry. He attacks the line of scrimmage. It's one speed all the time. Never if we’re in a practice rep and I handed the ball off to him, has it had any different feel. I think he just clicks in when it’s time to play.”

Time is not on Peterson’s or Brees’ side, but they may still have some.